Longing for the days of Nixon

My congressman in office during Nixon and Watergate and I lived in the same neighborhood  as children and he was two grades ahead of me in school.  We were never close friends, but over the years we participated in neighborhood gatherings and school events, so we were well acquainted.  

He was a Republican.  Although I considered myself independent, I was registered to vote in the Republican primary, and I know I voted for him in the general election.  He was a good fit for my district in western Illinois. I lived in a factory town populated by many shop workers but surrounded by a rural area which contained some of the most fertile riverine loam in the nation.  He managed to gain the confidence of contending camps of voters and served eight terms, for two of which he was unopposed for election.

When Watergate occurred, my congressman sat on the House Judiciary Committee.  He voted for one of the articles of impeachment against Nixon.  Nixon resigned rather than face being thrown out of office.  Trump will most likely be impeached in the House on a party-line vote. Republicans in the Senate most likely will feel compelled to absolve him.  But Nixon had to face Republicans in Congress like my congressman who would not support him,  cover up for him , or excuse him in face of  the charges against him:   misuse of power, obstruction of justice, and contempt of congress.  He thought it best to resign.

My congressman served for ten years after Watergate, but his vote to impeach Nixon would catch up with him.  During redistricting, his district was redrawn to include an area of very conservative Republicans.  During the primary, the congressman drew an opponent who used the vote to impeach Nixon as a demerit against him.  He lost the primary in 1982.  The opponent lost the election.  The district has voted for a Democratic representative ever since, except for one term in which a Tea Party candidate was voted in.

During the open impeachment inquiry, not one Republican  acknowledged the charges against Trump. even though some are based upon Trump's own recorded words.  They don't want to impeach him, but neither do they have the integrity to remonstrate him for behavior which reduces the nation to a banana republic.  

There was a time when the GOP cared about the nation.  Those days are gone.